First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun attends a conference at the government complex in Seoul, Oct. 16. Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki
A senior diplomat will visit the United States and Japan this week to discuss cooperation between the three countries and North Korea-related issues, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Sunday.
First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun will embark on the five-day trip later Sunday that will first take him to Washington for talks with his U.S. counterpart on bilateral ties, trilateral cooperation with Japan, and North Korea, according to the ministry.
He will then visit Tokyo for vice ministerial-level talks on the three-way cooperation with the United States and preparations for the 60th anniversary of the normalization of relations between South Korea and Japan next year.
The trip comes after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment on Dec. 14 over his short-lived imposition of martial law, which has raised concerns over Seoul’s policy coordination with Washington and Tokyo, especially with the incoming U.S. administration of Donald Trump, set to take office next month.
Under Yoon, South Korea has sought to deepen trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan amid evolving nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea.
To address uncertainties posed by the incoming Trump administration, the foreign ministry has set up a task force to come up with response measures to the new administration’s foreign policy. (Yonhap)
